A neutralised GC didn't prevent teams from deploying their full arsenal of TT gear - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
IAM Cycling's Scott Plasma 5s were arguably the best looking TT rigs on show. This is Sylvain Chavanel's bike - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
This is one neat setup, with minimal clutter - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
The main Shimano Di2 junction box normally sits somewhere up front, but this is a better solution from an aerodynamics perspective - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
IAM is still using the last-generation Shimano Dura-Ace 7900 SRM power meter - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Third party jockey wheels from Cycling Ceramic – the ultimate marginal gain? - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Now that's stylish - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
The SRM head unit mount sits between the aero extensions - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
An aero bottle cage means an aero bottle - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
It's branded DT Swiss, but this is a Lightweight Autobahn disc wheel - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Cannondale-Garmin ride the Slice, with Shimano groupsets and Mavic wheels - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Orica-GreenEdge is another team on the Scott Plasma. This spare bike has the Di2 battery tucked under the saddle. - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Another spare had an older Dura-Ace 7900 crankset from the OGE parts bin. 56t? Yes please - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
The bikes used for the actual race have a stealthier paintjob. This is Mathew Hayman's huge Plasma… - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
…which dwarfs this white odd-one-out, possibly Caleb Ewan's - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
We've seen neater electrical tape jobs - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
It may be small, but 54/46 is not to be sniffed at - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
AG2R-La Mondiale races on the Focus Izalco Chrono, with SRAM components and Zipp wheels - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
We're not sure if this is a new prototype Deda Kronos bar, or a one-off custom job - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Lampre-Merida rides the Merida Warp TT, with Shimano shifting kit and Fulcrum wheels - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
This is Ilia Koshevoy's spare bike. That's a 54t Rotor Q-Ring - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Cofidis rides the Orbea Ordu with Dura-Ace, Vision wheels, and funky Vision aero cranks - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
The 54t big ring on this spare bike has clearly seen some use, and abuse - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
TT cockpits are rarely pretty, and this is no exception - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
MTN-Qhubeka rides the Cervelo P5. This one has Dura-Ace, Rotor Flow cranks, and Enve rims on DT Swiss hubs - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
The Selle Italia Kronos saddle is a tasty bit of carbon - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Rotor's aerodynamics Flow cranks, fitted here with standard (round) NoQ rings - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
This strange device is a Magura RT8 hydraulic front brake - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Astana rides the Specialized Shiv with Campagnolo groupsets and Corima wheels - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Team Colombia-Coldeportes' Wilier is certainly eye-catching. Interestingly, this spare bike with Miguel Angel Rubiano's name on it is not the company's TT bike, it's actually a Cento1AIR that's had its bars swapped - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Katusha's Canyon Speedmax CF line-up was a study in repetition - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
The bikes are built up with Dura-Ace and Mavic wheels - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
This is Geraint Thomas of Team Sky's Pinarello Bolide, with a Dura-Ace groupset and Pro wheels - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
A piece of grip tape on the saddle helps keep Thomas's butt from sliding around too much - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Note how high his extensions sit relative to the base bar. They're fixed height too - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Froome's bike had older Dura-Ace 7900 cranks, fitted with a huge Osymetric chainring - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Etixx-Quickstep is another team on the Specialized Shiv. The bikes are built with Dura-Ace, FSA and Vision parts - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
That's a Power2Max/FSA K-Force Light power meter - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Marcus Burghardt's Team BMC Time Machine TM01 looks immense. Dura-Ace goes with a Pro disc wheel and a 3T cockpit - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
This bike has clearly been with Team BMC for a while – the writing under the tape reads "Peter Velits […] Champion 2013", likely a reference to his victory in the Czech National TT champs that year. He went on to take the red jersey in the day's stage - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Alessandro de Marchi's setup has quite the stack height - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
This is another of Astana's bikes… - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
…with a funky red anodised centre-pull front brake, likely from TRP - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
The challenge of cabling TT bikes means electronic groupsets dominate, but this one has mechanical Campagnolo Super Record - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Speaking of weird brakes, check out the front one on this Giant-Alpecin Trinity. That cable routing is hideous - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Another of their bikes was fitted with a rear-facing camera… - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
That would be Tom Dumoulin's ride, with Dura-Ace and Pro wheels - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
While some teams continue to resist progress, Giant-Alpecin is rolling on 25mm rubber - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
The last thing you want in a TT is a puncture, so this mechanic was wiping tyres clean of debris - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
This eye-catching Trek Speed Concept is Fabian Cancellara's spare bike. The Trek Factory Racing rider has since withdrawn from the Vuelta citing stomach problems - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
The Speed Concept has smart looking wishbone-style aero extensions. Of course, that means the width is fixed - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Some of the Trek bikes had high-zoot FMB tubulars fitted - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
56-44 anyone? We're pretty sure the MF stands for "mother f***ers" - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA rides the Fuji Norcom with Shimano shifting kit, Rotor cranks and Oval wheels - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
The Oval cockpit looks cool, but lacks adjustability as the relationship between extensions and base bar is fixed - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Watching a pro team warm up is oddly mesmerising - Matthew Allen / Immediate Media
Saturday saw the Vuelta a España get off to a slightly rocky start, with a neutralised team time trial that had some teams soft-pedalling, and others gunning for the win. Despite the weirdness, the 22 teams taking part deployed their full arsenals of TT gear. BikeRadar did the rounds of the team buses before the start. Take a look through our huge gallery above.
For full coverage of the Vuelta a España, head over to Cyclingnews.com.
Matthew Loveridge (formerly Allen) is BikeRadar's former senior writer, an experienced mechanic, and an expert on bike tech who appreciates practical, beautifully-engineered things. Originally a roadie, he likes bikes and kit of every type, including gravel bikes and mountain bikes, and he's tested a huge variety of all three over the years for BikeRadar, Cycling Plus, Cyclist.co.uk and others. He looks like he should be better at cycling than he actually is, and he's ok with that.
